Anger as German WWII veterans demand plaque to honour Stalag soldiers who killed prisoners that inspired The Great Escape

German World War II veterans have demanded a memorial plaque for their fallen beside the graves of the 50 British heroes murdered after the mass Prisoner of War breakout that inspired the film The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.

The 50 defenceless prisoners were executed by German troops when they were recaptured after escaping from Stalag Luft III camp, located in what is now Poznan in Poland, in 1944.

Their remains are buried alongside Polish and Soviet allies at the Old Garrison Cemetery in Citadela park in Poznan.

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Formidable: Stalag Luft III was a notorious World War II prison camp marshalled by Nazi SS soldiers in what is now Poland

But now Germany's Veterans' Association have ordered Polish authorities to put a plaque at the same graveyard to 'honour the memory' of the Nazi troops who died being driven out by Soviet forces in 1945.

The demand has infuriated Polish veterans who remember the occupying German troops as hardcore SS fanatics.

One, who did not want to be named, said: 'There is very little honour in shooting unarmed prisoners in the back. The Germans were not welcome here in the war and they are not welcome here now.

'They were invaders, they attacked us. I remember one German officer telling me: "We will come back here. I don't know when but we will."'

Brutal: A scene from the cult film The Great Escape, which was based on Allied Forces' attempts to escape the camp

Polish resistance fighter Stanislaw Morzycki, 87, who was tortured by the Gestapo in the Citadela fortress, added: 'I'll never forget that.

'This is an outrage. To be buried alongside those brave Britons who were murdered for trying to escape the camp in Zagan, and in a cemetery which is a symbol of suffering in Poznan is disgusting.'